LAB MEMBERS
THE PEOPLE PASSIONATE AND COMMITTED TO IMPROVING OUR ENVIRONMENT THROUGH SOUND, STRONG SCIENCE
Rebecca Eldridge
M.Sc.
Rebecca Eldridge was a Master’s student co-supervised by Drs. Mark Hanson and Benjamin de Jourdan (Huntsman Marine Science Centre). Her thesis took a two-phased approach: first, a critical review was conducted to explore the current state of ecotoxicology as it pertains to testing with Arctic species. Literature was gathered and scored using a set of criteria and scoring system developed to assess the methodological strengths and weaknesses of published toxicity tests. The second involved optimizing culture conditions and developing a laboratory protocol for toxicity testing with an Arctic diatom, Nitzschia frigida. Results were compared and contrasted with toxicity data generated with a standard test species, the temperate diatom Skeletonema costatum, to assess potential differences in relative sensitivity. Overall, the thesis identified a need for ongoing improvement in test conduct and reporting in the scientific literature to support effective risk assessments and has provided a new tool to inform environmental risk assessment in Arctic regions.